US embassy cable - 04MANAMA642

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000642 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD MACINNES AND PAGNEW, NEA/ARP 
CKANESHIRO 
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA 
USCINCCENT FOR PAO AND POLAD 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH AND HAMBLEY; PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OIIP BA 
SUBJECT:  BAHRAINI MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQI POW TREATMENT 
 
1.  Summary:  All six Bahraini daily newspapers continue to 
run stories about U.S. mistreatment of Iraqi POWs.  In 
addition to photos of prisoners, newspapers are running 
photos of families waiting outside Iraqi prisons to obtain 
information about their loved ones inside.  Letters to the 
editor pages are also full of letters from ordinary 
Bahrainis and other Arab and South Asian expats living and 
working in Bahrain.  These letters include the same themes 
as regular columnists: shock, sadness, and calls on the U.S. 
military to punish, and not just reprimand, the 
perpetrators.  Bahrainis continue to watch Arab satellite 
coverage of the issue and many fears that the abuse is 
widespread and that the worse is not yet known.  They 
believe that prisoners in Guantanamo and Afghanistan are 
also being subjected to torture.  Papers are full of 
political cartoons poking fun at American values of freedom 
and human rights in light of the prisoner abuse.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  EDITORIAL COMMENT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
ENGLISH DAILY "BAHRAIN TRIBUNE" EDITORIAL, 5/5: 
 
"Moral Decadence of Coalition Soldiers" 
 
"The vulgar and systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners by 
coalition troops in Abu Ghraib prison has shown the moral 
decadence and bankruptcy of some of the American and British 
soldiers.  It seems there was an understanding between the 
US and UK troops as to how badly the captured should be 
mistreated.  That most of the coalition troops are mentally 
sick became doubtless when a group of twenty Indians who ran 
away from a US military camp in Iraq told their story in the 
Hindustan Times.  One of them said they were taken to an 
American army camp in Mosul where they were told that they 
had been `bought' to work in the kitchen. "We were slaves in 
the American kitchens."  These stories have made it amply 
clear that the US-UK forces are much more inhuman than 
previously thought.  They abide by no engagement rules and 
would make animals blush with their torture tactics. 
 
..Torture is a tool of the weak.  It will never help bring 
peace in Iraq.  The blood-boiling pictures will make more 
people inside and outside Iraq determined to carry out 
attacks against the Americans and British.  Those 
responsible - no matter how influential and senior they are 
- must be punished for war crimes and given exemplary 
punishment.  Otherwise there is no reason for us not to 
believe that the illegal detainees in Afghanistan and in 
Guantanamo Bay are also subject to the same affront." 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ" 5/4, 
BY COLUMNIST RADHI SAMAK (moderate Bahraini columnist, 
returned International Visitor): 
 
"The Dimensions of the Torture Scandal" 
 
"It would have been surprising if there were no human rights 
violations or torture incidents against Iraqi prisoners, 
because the history of America since the end of World War II 
shows that its forces tortured and degraded the citizens of 
any country it occupied.  The American and Britain 
administrations are trying to depict the incidents as if 
they were the acts of a few individuals, but the reality is 
that any occupation on earth lacks ethics and moral values." 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ" 5/4, 
COLUMNIST Fawziya Rasheed (Bahraini columnist): 
 
"The Scandals of American Liberty and Happy Democracy" (part 
I) 
 
"As much as the pictures of tortured Iraqis were horrible, 
the reactions of the American and British leaders were 
pitiful if we take in consideration that they were 
responsible for everything that has happened in Iraq so far. 
CBS network has only revealed the tip of the iceberg of the 
many facts that have been hidden.  This incident shows the 
true ugly face of the American slogans of democracy and 
human rights.  That is why verbal condemnation is not 
enough.  Arab governments and the international community 
must form an international investigation commission to 
disclose the crimes of occupation forces in Iraq." 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ" 5/5, 
COLUMNIST Fawziya Rasheed (Bahraini columnist): 
 
"The Scandals of American Liberty and Happy Democracy" (part 
II) 
 
"Unlike the image that America promoted about the goals of 
the war in Iraq, facts show us clearly that everything is 
crumbling down on America after the crimes that its 
mercenary soldiers committed there were revealed.  All that 
we have seen so far about the crimes and torture Americans 
committed against Iraqis is actually a small amount of the 
barbaric crimes that lie beneath.  American and British 
officials must be punished for these crimes because all of 
them happened with their knowledge and blessing.  Arab 
lawyers and legal experts must act together to take these 
crimes and those who were responsible for them to an 
international tribunal not only to question these crimes but 
also the war and its hidden objectives." 
 
3. Minimize considered. 
FORD